The EFL Trophy is not a competition most sides set out to win, but an exit is still hard to take.
Even more so when you finished as runner up last season and are widely regarded as the biggest senior side in the competition. Sunderland exited the group stage courtesy of a 3-0 defeat against League Two side Scunthorpe United and it’s fair to say their supporters are not happy.
They’re not happy at all.
In some instances, clubs play weakened sides and whilst this was the case for the Black Cats, it was some weakened side. Lee Burge, Luke O’Nien, Jordan Willis, Max Power, Grant Leadbitter, Aiden McGeady and Marc McNulty were amongst those who started the encounter, giving the XI a strong feel. They wanted to win the game, assistant manager Steve Parkin said so in an interview earlier today.
There could be no better tie either. Scunthorpe are fourth from bottom in League Two and have only won three league matches all season. They were thrashed 4-1 by Crawley at the weekend but needed a win to progress.
A Lee Novak penalty just after the hour mark gave the Iron something to defend, with Luke O’Nien sent off for the challenge that led to it. Instead of sitting back they grabbed two more goals; Novak added a second after Abu Eisa had made it 2-0 two minutes from time.
After going out of the EFL Cup a couple of weeks ago and struggling in the FA Cup First Round, Phil Parkinson might see his side with nothing but the league to play for by the time December arrives and these Sunderland supporters are just about at the end of their tether with it all.
https://twitter.com/_dgallagher99/status/1194368558018519040
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